Imperial Bedrooms Review

"They had made a movie about us."

Have you ever seen the movie version of Less Than Zero? It's an abomination. Robert Downey gives a great performance as Julian (wonder where he got the inspiration to play a drug addict) but Clay, who in the book was the numb center of the violence, sex, and mayhem that surrounded him, was turned into an after school special who muttered sentiments about saving everyone around him while marbles seemed to drop out of his mouth. It's pathetic. And like most morale stories, Julian, the tortured drug addict with a heart of gold it seems ("I don't want to hurt her man) has to die in order for the rest of the characters to live on. Everyone sing kumbaya for the spoiled California kids. No wonder they were so scared to merge onto the goddamn highway.

But what if the book itself was a fraud? What if Clay was there, he was part of the wallpaper during the chaos, but it was this quite, pale kid who went to College with Clay who actually wrote the book? What if the Clay in the book was actually Bret Easton Ellis, displaced? Imperial Bedrooms wants you to believe that. It's not the first time Ellis has appeared in his work, we do live in a mega-cognitive world, but this type the veil itself seems to be exposed. I get that we're not suppose to believe Clay fully, much like we weren't suppose to believe Ellis, the character, in Lunar Park, but this doesn't explain Clay's role in Zero. Was he a mover or a shaker? Did he sit there on his hands and watch Julian sell his ass or was he the one screwing him? One has to wonder these things. I don't know if it's a clever thing on Ellis' behalf or a lazy one.

Naming the novel Imperial Bedrooms would seem to signify a step in maturity. Less Than Zero was one of Elvis Costello's earlier, punkier songs and Imperial Bedrooms was his step forward into more streamlined R&B and classicism. Clay has showed no signs of growing. In fact, he seems more vicious, his fangs showing the ever more. As he demolishes young wannabe actress after another, one wants to know if the human part of him disappeared a while ago, or even worse, was it even there. He seems to have more in common with the disfigured, almost clownish, Rip, their old drug dealer whose more interested in human traffic now, especially young women, than the "heart of gold" druggie Julian, who is now clean. Sure, Julian has his faults; he sells the flesh of the young now instead of selling himself, but in the world of L.A., he seems like an angel.

This is a major fault/strength of the book. Ellis wants the book to be built like a Raymond Chandler novel, his obsession with fusing popular forms of writing with his style growing, but where is the Marlowe character? The reader is suspended into a myriad of unknown trying to figure out who indeed this Rain girl really is and who indeed is breaking into Clay's apartment and who indeed killed Kelly Montrose only to realize the detective, Clay, is the one we know the least about. Like an onion, as the novel progresses more and more is revealed about Clay only to reveal that he is nothing but a ball of violence, pent up sexual frustration, and alcohol. I'm not saying that Ellis novels should have heros, certainly Patrick Bateman was no saint, but one felt sorry for Sean Bateman, or Victor Ward, or even Patrick since he was so empty that one had the slightest twinge of empathy for him. No dice for Clay. He is the most despicable character Ellis has ever penned. And now it is not L.A. that has changed Clay. He has been gone, returning once again like he did at the beginning of Zero. It is Clay himself. He is "the fear." The insert on the cover would like the reader to believe that Clay comes to terms with his proclivity for "betrayal." I think Ellis is scoffing at that. Clay is pure evil, simply.

"But you're just the writer." Although Clay tries to control his situation, things swirl out of control like most Ellis novels. He is just a writer, one with great skills (dialogue, style, character, mood) and obvious weaknesses (focus, long winded). It's no surprise Ellis would want to revisit his characters of Zero. It is, arguably, his only perfect novel and with each novel he seems to want to espouse an old demon: college, his father, fame, himself. Ellis needs to kill off Julian (no spoiler, I swear, it is revealed early) in order to move forward as a writer. It may not be a perfect step but it is an enjoyable one none the less.

Imperial Bedrooms- 3.75 out of 5